Lessons Learned

Well, I made it to the retreat & home again w/o incident. A good time was had by all.

I was a bit worried before I left for several reasons but one of the main ones is that I don't get along well with many women. The women I've met though this blog are the exception ... I guess it's because we are all discussing like minded goals & aspirations.

I do have close friends & family whom I love, & the women that I have come to know through this blog are amazing. So, I don't dislike women, I am just not drawn to them. My husband is my best friend & I wouldn't change that for the world.

Also, I am not a chit chatter, especially about mundane crap like shoes & purses & other silly things. I dress nice, when I have to, wear makeup, when I have to & mind my manners.

I also must mention that I don't have a whole lot of patience either. If someone annoys me I walk away rather than say something 'not nice'. And, I get annoyed easily, especially the older I get.

This past weekend was a test for me. There were 61 attendees at the retreat, 57 of them women plus an additional 10 or 12 instructors or moderators. The age range was 23 - 70, with the median age around 50. I was prepared to pretty much stay to myself if I found that I couldn't tolerate ... whatever. I was pleasantly surprised that for the most part, everyone attending was as focused as I was on learning the things that were being offered.

There were 4 or 5 younger women (age 23 - 27). Each had come with a mother, or were there w/a friend who had come with their mother. They were lovely young women & truly interested in all the activities. It was very refreshing & gives me hope about the future. They even put their iPhones down while eating & during conversations!

Yeah, there were a couple of Hazels in the crowd, but for the most part the others were easy to talk to & not overbearing with their opinions. I just steered clear of the Hazels. My cabin mates were an eclectic mix with great personalities to match. I even met a couple of women that I think will become long term friends, we had much in common.



Sleeping quarters

I guess what made me open up my mind while there, was the side conversations you would hear while going through the day. Simple things like, types of goats, whether you milked, types of chickens, cows, gardening topics, etc. Talk even turned to WTSHTF, how many months of food were stored, Bug Out Bags, etc. There was also conversations about concealed weapon permits & types of guns.  Hmmmm, I thought.

There was plenty of discussions about books, excercise routines, sewing & other things like that, as well. But it all seemed, to me anyway, that it was centered around one common goal & that was Self Sufficiency. By choice now & necessary when the time comes.

It was a bit surreal knowing you were pretty much surrounded with that many like minded strangers individuals in a foreign setting. It felt good.

I learned a LOT & what I liked about this specific retreat was that the classes were taught by real women. Some had been doing whatever they were teaching, for years while others were fairly new & were just good at it. Also, for the most part, it was hands on which is what I was looking for.

I helped make apple butter, biscuits & pie crust. I learned what I was doing wrong w/my biscuits (cutting them too thin). I hope to never buy another can of biscuits or pie crust again.

I have dabbled in dehydrating, water bath canning & pressure canning, but I needed to make sure I was doing it right by actually participating, while a knowledgable person looked on. So I took  dehydrating & pressure canning classes. I felt reassured & most certainly learned many new tips & techniques.

I took soft cheese & hard cheese making. I didn't learn much in the soft cheese class, as I had already made mozarella using the same recipe, but learned a lot in the hard cheese class. I plan on making Romano as soon as my husband builds me a cheese press.

I loved the bread making class & I hope to never buy dinner rolls again. Another goal is to cut down on the amount of bread we buy.

But, I think my favorite class of all was the Goat Husbandry class. The teacher, Shelley from Twiggity Dairy Goats, has been doing this for a couple of years & you could just feel her excitement & love of her goats. She & her husband brought 2 Nigerian kids, 1 adult kid & a Mini Lamancha. We loved them all. We learned how to select a good dairy goat, preventative maintenance, how to look for signs of trouble, how to administer shots, how to trim hooves & how to milk!! Shelley is an excellent speaker & you could really tell she loves what she does. They also brought Cheddar & Queso cheese as well as samples of milk to try. It was wonderful!

We ended with a party at the CITR farm on Sunday afternoon. I've been following this blog since the beginning of the year & it was nice to see all of the animals & understand the layout of the farm. There was a swap table, coffee roasting, yarn spinning & soap making demos, lots of food, hay rides & pony rides. The weather was perfect! With a glass of wine in hand it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

I had a great time & the lesson I learned was to keep an open mind, you never know who you might meet & what you might learn.

WV sunrise on my last morning